Jim Langan going into Liquidation

secman

Another furniture chain bites the dust, feel lucky here as almost bought a bedroom suite there just after christmas. Pity all the folk on Joe Duffy today who have lost €1,000s .

Secman

scarey123

At the end of January I went ino Jim Langans store in Liffey Valley and picked out a corner unit, table and chairs and 2 seater coaches. Paid 2,100 deposit as [snipped] told me that I need to Pay half and other half in Delivery.
After hearing the shananigans on the Joe Duffy show I immediatly rang liffey valley and then customer service line. No answer. I paid with my credit card. family members are trying to reassure me that I have some hope of getting money back. Can anyone tell me if I have any chance at all or give me any advice. I cannot afford this kind of a loss at all. And was saving so hard for my nice furniture. It's devasting.

milligank

Put a deposit of 800 on a couch at the end of Jan.

Paid by Credit card, Anyone know if I will get my money back from the credit card company???


thanks

Fer

A friend payed deposit with lazer any come back ?

tpatch

worth a try, There must be some sort of claim back system hidden in the small print with Lazer.

I believe they where still taking money yesterday.

Jim Langan walks away smiling, While hard working joe soap pays his bills

milligank

Lazer - no come back

Visa- Ring you visa company.

itsallaboutme!!

does anyone know who the receiver is for jim langan. ive been waiting for delivery of 6 chairs to match a table I paid in full for by visa back in November!

debscon

credit cards will be refunded i was onto my card helplie yesterday waiting 3 months for furniture and wont be getting it my advice is watch the web site iv been told they usually make announcments on thats and keep yoour reciepts safe

loyatemu

we have a deposit on a few items of furniture - been waiting 6 weeks and watching Land of Leather and Classic Furniture bite the dust, I had a bad feeling Langan's could be next. Fortunately I think the missus used her Visa paying the deposit so we should be OK.

debscon

hey i guess after just listening to gerry ryan show everyone feels like i do i waited til the sales to but a badly needed sofa and now feel so robbed only finished paying for mine on sunday god knows how long it will take to get the money back:mad:

cookie2

It is sad to hear about those of you who have been caught up in this unfortunate saga. For those of you having to repurchase or for those of you wary of where to buy furniture products at the moment, I can recommend Arnotts on Henry Street and *** NO ADVERTISING***. Both of these companies are finacially solid, give great service and have a wide range of products that come from the best suppliers. I would also recommend buying Irish. There is traceability, lead times are realistic, and if there's a problem you don't need to wait for the next consignment from China. This will also benefit the economy overall. *** NO ADVERTISING***

skywalker_208

Millionaires getting away with murder as usual. Im sure Jim is sunning himself on his Yacht somewhere while Joe Soap was conned out of 1000s. To think that they were still taking in money yesterday makes me sick....

Amalgam

Judging by certain radio programmes, there seemed to be premeditation on the part of certain staff, saying the credit card machines were out of order and asking for cash as late as yesterday.

starbelgrade

I feel sorry for anyone who's lost money through this & other liqudations. My missus lost out on a voucher from Zavvi that a friend bought her for her birthday. It's a real sign of the times when issues like this come to light - ie., deposits & vouchers meaning feic all.

At the same time, I'm baffled as to why anyone would pay the full cost for goods or services that have yet to be delivered.

DubLegs

Such a bad time for anyone who has paid in full or large deposits!

Has the company officially gone into liquidation - has there been one appointed yet?

holly1

How can they get away with taking money off people just the day before they close,sure they must have known the place was closing.At least the manager did,Its plain theft it nearly as bad as the wanker bankers.

holly1

Also Mr Langan is not in the country,probly in Spain with the bankers.

John Mason

anyone who paid with credit cards, get straight on to your company now. you only 120 days to claim back your money from the day you paid it

Peewee_lane

My little sister is due her baby in 1.5 week, they put a desposit of 500 euro down last weekend for their bed for their new house and other furniture, and she was in floods of tears yesterday that they lost that money.

B*stard!

holly1

Does anyone know is it gone into liquidation,and if so who the liquidatior is???I wonder did the salespeople know this was happining(i would hope not).

susie585

I rang the CRO (Companies Registration Office), as of yet they have not filed papers to say they are gone into liquidation, but they have about 15 days to do so. The company status is still up as normal, but this just means they haven't filed the papers with the CRO. Once the liquidator is appointed the details should be here, as well as on the company website, and presumably a letter sent to all people owed money. I intend to write a strongly worded letter to the ODCE as well, because in my eyes thats reckless and fraudulent trading to be taking business when they clearly knew the goods were never going to be delivered, its a disgrace.

Merch

When I went in to Langans at the end of '08 they specifically had a hand written sign saying cash and laser deposits, I used the credit card to pay but payed in full. I'm sure that sign was a good indicator they knew what was coming.
I was told I wouldn't have a long wait as I ordered something they had in stock??
Needless to say suite didnt turn up on date I was told, tried to ring them with no answer, shop was still open at that stage so went in and they gave me a cock and bull story about it turning up, apparently a few days later it was doors shut but as I had just been re-assured I didn't look for a week until I was in argos, saw place closed totally and checked boards later on, got a good fright when I read what was there as was a week later, straight onto credit card company.
I should be ok but not sure about people who went through Laser or cash, check with own bank but think a credit card company has more clout in these cases, in future I'll be paying minimal deposit and definitely with Credit card, as it seems so many of these places are shutting , who do you go to???
Any good deals, that will be reliable enough to turn up??

Einstein

Peewee_lane wrote: »

B*stard!

hmm...because he planned to close...thats exactly what people that run big businesses want :rolleyes:

Dont get me wrong, it's a disaster when things like this happen and really inconvenient for the customer, but the place, like hundreds of other companies in the current climate, went out of business...hardly something that they plan for or hope to happen, which lots of people seem to think.

Lots of times directors of the company wont know whats happening...staff of certain place I know of came into work one day and were marched out by auditors and liquidators and the shops were closed, nobody knew it was coming, and they got zero warning about it.
I run a business, and if things dont pick up, i could close down, but I'll work every day to try and avoid that...its the same everywhere. And i realise that people think "oh he had the cheek of taking money from me" or "his manager knew they were closing" I can pretty much guarantee that the staff didnt know it was happening (besides rumours that were probably flying around), because if I was in that boat, I certainly wouldn't be telling staff that i was assigning liquidators to the company.

/rant over...

Merch

I'm not saying they planned to close, but a hand written sign requesting deposits in cash or by laser seems/ed a bit odd,
Neither am I saying they were just getting the cash in so they could fill up the suitcases with it and head off to Rio.
If I had a business and it was in trouble I definitely think it would be worse for business if customers or staff thought it was in trouble, so perhaps these were last ditch attempts to revive it?
It sounds like a long chain from where the product is manufactured to here where it is sold, so I am sure it is difficult to manage. The rewards are probably high? but the risks, especially in these times are likely high also.

I don't like to think people are losing their money and come out the worse.
I'd have preferred to get my suite, I'm concerned to put money on one anywhere as I looked it up in more detail and seems other retailers of this type have gone under, for that I am more sympathetic to the people at the bottom.

Oasis44

[snipped]. Everything that could be done was done for the company to remain in business but unfortunately the banks (i.e. the life blood of business') shut up shop and wouldn't lend the company any more monies. When word leaked that the company was in trouble suppliers and customers raided the shops/warehouse, threatened staff verbally and physically and basically made it impossible to keep the doors open and wind down the company in a normal fashion.

For a company in business in Ireland OVER 30 YEARS its hardly the way they wanted to go but newsflash people were in a serious recession and business' are going bang every single day. YOU yes you reading this are highly likely to lose your jobs this year - Ireland is in serious trouble and this is an example of the fall out from it.

Unfortunately because the furniture business is deposit led people who have paid by laser/cash have lost their monies but 20 + staff have lost their jobs - which is worse??. Jim Langan BTW is not in spain and/or on a yacht but is in fact financially ruined and is now making arrangements to sign on and figure out how he is going to support his family here on in (not to mention avoid being attacked/shot by some lunatic scum bag). He ploughed every last cent he had into keeping the business afloat but unfortunately it wasn't enough - who wants to see their business fail?

The whole thing is very unfortuante [snipped] but as I stated before once the word leaked out all hell broke loose and none of the staff wanted to carry on for fear of being hurt (The manager of liffey valley had to be escorted home by the guards on 3/3 and was in fact barricaded into the retail park by customers) Again the whole thing is regretable - it wasn't the first furniture store to go bang and it wont be the last this coming year.

Want some good advice? Buy in IKEA its cheaper and you can take the goods home straight away. This is my first and last post on this issue so no point in asking me any further questions. BTW if you did buy something with a credit card YOU ARE COVERED and will get your money back.

A liquidator has been appointed so keep an eye on the media for info on how you can try and get your monies refunded (if paid by cash/laser)

Kieo

some facts about real monies...when ya lose your job and you have paid deposits on furniture that you've yet to receive and you learn that the shop in question is going bang, you will do anything to get your furniture(except violence) or your money back so think about the other side of the coin.:mad:

itsallaboutme!!

oasis 44,we all know we are in the midst of a recession we do not need reminding.
its understandable that in the circumstances places will go bust and people will lose out i have lost out 1400e with jim langan going and got no furniture.i understand that these things happen but what i cant understand is why, two weeks later there hasnt been a peep out of the company to at least give customer some kind of explanation as to what was happening. i am informed that these things are all very confidential until things are sorted out but they could have avoided alot of the media hype by releasing a simple statement to put customers minds at rest. it also escapes me as to why they out a sign on the door of liffey valley branch telling customers to ring the customer service number for enquiries cancellations and refunds!!!surprise surprise with no staff there is nobody to answer the phone!! i cannot afford to lose 14e never mind 1400e and i have had to wait and am still waiting to find out if im going to get any of it back. a little courtesy goes a long way!

mobby

Anyone have a phone call from a chap called Paul offering to fulfil any outstanding orders from lagans? He has rang my other half last week and again today, we had just paid a small deposit on some furniture after Christmas that we had arranged to collect, he had all our details e.g. what we had paid as a deposit, what we ordered etc. says he will deliver our goods for COD less what we paid as a depost, Claims to work for a Furniture warehouse in Blanchardstown rang them and the say they no nothing but have the furniture we ordered on their website, also seems not to want to supply his contact phone number. seems a bit strange

itsallaboutme!!

mobby,i havent had any phone calls like that know a few people hit and they have not had any calls either id be very weary especially since he wont leave a number and the place he claims to be from dont know of him!maybe if the place you were onto have the stuff you ordered and they seem legit(spelling ??) go with them directly?who was it by the way id really love to get the same stuff i had ordered but cant find it or anything similar anywhere else!!:(

debscon

i havent heard from anyone either and i had paid in full i did hear of someone saying they got their furniture from a container that was full of stuff ready to be delivered i would just like my furniture just lkike everyone else im afraid to even go look at any other furniture incase it happens again still waiting to see if credit card company are going to pay back.
Anyone any idea how long it takes for credit card company to pay back???

bill_ashmount

Amalgam wrote: »

Judging by certain radio programmes, there seemed to be premeditation on the part of certain staff, saying the credit card machines were out of order and asking for cash as late as yesterday.

I could see why a store owner would do this but why would any staff member do this, they have nothing to gain??? If they have done it I hope Karma comes back and bites them on the ass.

leitrim lad

maybe they were lining their owns pockets , give it six months and all the retail units in the country will be abandoned

Merch

leitrim lad wrote: »

maybe they were lining their owns pockets , give it six months and all the retail units in the country will be abandoned

I hope for everyones sake not, less jobs means less tax take and VAT receipts, who will pay for the unemployed (who were till this point paying their taxes also)

Maybe some staff more connected to the owners might have had a vested interest, as i said previously, I saw a sign after Xmas day requesting cash and laser deposits
who knows, I'd like to think it wasn't underhand but if it really wasnt and they were trying to savw the company and not inflict pain on customers or ruin their name for evermore they could have requested credit card payments knowing they'd have the money but the customers would be safe?
Im not in that line so maybe that doesnt make sense, its good to be aware as a customer how and where you are protected ie through credit cards, that would be considered (I believe) a secured loan and you have the full weight of that company to chase down the money in the event of a place shutting up, so they would get their money before an unsecured payment which would equate to a cash payment from an individual plus you have to do all the chasing and work.

debscon

it was defintaly a money making scam as far as im concerned cause any other company would hae appointed a liquidator to finish the mess they made and there is nothing they just shut up shop with the money they had and ran !!!*Easy on the name calling**

itsallaboutme!!

has anyone heard ANYTHING about langans??or heard anything from credit card companies about chargebacks?im still waiting to hear from aib about mine

debscon

yeh i got my money back yesterday thanks god its takes ages but it happens

mobby

Yep got our depost back from the bank yesterday. also had our order delivered last week so happy.

Eireann

Theres also a post about this on askaboutmoney for anyone whos interested : http://www.askaboutmoney.com/showthread.php?t=106545

debscon

mobby wrote: »

Yep got our depost back from the bank yesterday. also had our order delivered last week so happy.

you got ur furniture aswell as money back how??????????

itsallaboutme!!

yes please do tell how you manged that i REALLY REALLY wanted the stuff i ordered and have seen nothing i like since all this happened:(

Oasis44

Can the posters who keep saying Jim Langans 'robbed' everyone and then fecked off to spain please COP THE F*CK ON - I have posted before on this topic with THE TRUTH about what happened so please re-read it - I know alot of you are angry about the way the business went bang and I agree it was handled badly but the staff were as surprised as the customers went it went wallop so try and get that into your heads.

The only people who knew in advance that it was going bang were the head honchos in AIB who told jim langan to keep trading even though they knew there was no chance of them lending the business any more money.

Really annoys me the ejits who paint these companies as some sort of mafia type orgs who have planned in advance to fleece people - the company traded for the best part of 30 years and two family generations for god sake. Some people have starting to get their money back and some have even gotten the furniture they ordered so enough with the ridiculous comments and accusations please.

bobbbb

scarey123 wrote: »

At the end of January I went ino Jim Langans store in Liffey Valley and picked out a corner unit, table and chairs and 2 seater coaches. Paid 2,100 deposit as [snipped] told me that I need to Pay half and other half in Delivery.
After hearing the shananigans on the Joe Duffy show I immediatly rang liffey valley and then customer service line. No answer. I paid with my credit card. family members are trying to reassure me that I have some hope of getting money back. Can anyone tell me if I have any chance at all or give me any advice. I cannot afford this kind of a loss at all. And was saving so hard for my nice furniture. It's devasting.

Yes, you'll get it back. Just ring you CC company and tell them the story and that thee is no answer. It happened to me before and got it back very quickly without a problem.

bobbbb

Amalgam wrote: »

Judging by certain radio programmes, there seemed to be premeditation on the part of certain staff, saying the credit card machines were out of order and asking for cash as late as yesterday.

If thats true it has to be criminal.

mobby

mobby wrote: »

Anyone have a phone call from a chap called Paul offering to fulfil any outstanding orders from lagans? He has rang my other half last week and again today, we had just paid a small deposit on some furniture after Christmas that we had arranged to collect, he had all our details e.g. what we had paid as a deposit, what we ordered etc. says he will deliver our goods for COD less what we paid as a depost, Claims to work for a Furniture warehouse in Blanchardstown rang them and the say they no nothing but have the furniture we ordered on their website, also seems not to want to supply his contact phone number. seems a bit strange

As per above took a chance and got exactly what we ordered less a €100 deposit we had paid with CC to Langans.

debscon

mobby wrote: »

As per above took a chance and got exactly what we ordered less a €100 deposit we had paid with CC to Langans.

i would love if i could get my furniture wish someone would ringv me i ordered my stuff 1st jan

djk1000

Mobby, distinct possibility that you're in receipt of stolen goods!

I don't have anything to do with Langans, but I've been involved in advising companies with problems in the past. Anyone that paid by credit card is covered, shouldn't be any problem, but different card issuers have different terms for time to claim etc.

Anyone that paid by cash, cheque, laser, voucher, or anything that isn't credit card, you will become an unsecured creditor of the company. The liquidator will be in touch and after the secured creditors (like the revenue and bank) are paid, the remaining proceeds will be divided between the remaining creditors. 1c on the euro or even nothing is quite possible.

I can tell you that right up until the moment the doors shut, it isn't a case of an owner trying to cream it and put some money aside for himself. The liquidator will spot that and involve the authorities. It is far more likely that an owner or the directors were in discussions for further finance and were operating on the basis that they would be able to refinance. Not talking about this case specifically, but if a company director take the piss in the 12 months prior to insolvency, they can lose the protection of limited liability very easily, meaning they could lose their house and everything else, so I doubt there was a cash grab int he final few days.

In most cases, the bank finally decides that the business is too much of a risk or isn't viable and they then turn down the finance application knowing full well what happens next. That is when the credit card machines stop working, because the bank is dealing with a potentially insolvant customer and is withdrawing its services.

I'd suggest that anybody that had something on order, try to get in touch with someone at Langans and get the name of the wholesaler or supplier. Contact them and make an offer for your furniture. It's probably been ordered for you and is gathering dust somewhere anyway. Make sure that you get a good receipt clearly showing title to the goods.

Anyone that has bought and received furniture recently, be careful! The ownership of the furniture didn't pass to Langans, unless they paid their bill, therefore, it might not have been theirs to sell.

itsallaboutme!!

i ordered my furniture back in november with a delivery time in early february i have been trying to contact someone in langans since then! now that they have closed contacting someone who is in the know is impossible!!

Eireann

Creditors Meeting

Jim Langan Furniture Value Ltd

Stillorgan Park Hotel, Stillorgan, Dublin 18
on the 27th April 2009 at 9:30 am

itsallaboutme!!

Hurray!!got my chargeback from visa today!!anyone else who has sent in their applications for one be patient I heard nothing from them at all since i sent my letter in and only found out when I checked my online banking!!happy days!good luck to all still waiting to to sort their situation!

mad m

Got a letter in post yesterday about this creditors meeting, what does this mean? Anyone get one as well?